South Korea's FSS to launch special probe into crypto market manipulation

South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) plans to conduct a special investigation into high-risk areas of the virtual asset market ahead of the introduction of a basic act on digital assets. The move comes as the regulator is also preparing a disclosure system for the issuance and trading support of cryptocurrencies. The investigation will focus on activities that undermine market order, including: - Price manipulation by large-scale investors, or whales. - Schemes that exploit market characteristics, such as pump-and-dump tactics and manipulating prices on exchanges with deposit and withdrawal restrictions. - Price manipulation using API-based market orders. - Unfair trading practices involving the spread of false information on social media.